Ford Bristol post-race notes and quotes

March 25, 2001 Bristol Motor Speedway

ANDY HOUSTON --96-- McDonald's Taurus (Finished 39th)
"Skinner just ran over me. I mean, we're only 36 laps into the race. My spotter told me I was clear and he just drove in there right on me. I guess this is bumper cars or something because it was just enough to wreck me. It just wasn't very smart, but this ain't the first time he's ever done anything like that."

KURT BUSCH --97-- Roush Racing Taurus (Finished 42nd)
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?
"That's where the setup is at -- it's out there somewhere, but it's not underneath the car. Unfortunately, we've struggled trying to find a setup these last couple of weeks. We're having trouble getting the car to turn. The car won't turn."

JEFF BURTON --99-- Citgo SUPERGARD Taurus (Finished 40th)
"We were really tight and we must have hurt the right-front because the right-front failed. I hit off of four about as hard as you could hit and it took two of us out in one shot. It's a shame. We didn't have a great car, but we had a pretty good car. Pitting on the back straightaway really hurt us and that's just the way it's been this year, but if anybody believes this team isn't gonna fight and come back and kick some ass, they're wrong. This is a great race team."

WHAT DID YOU SAY TO MARK?
"I just told him I'm sorry. Certainly, he knows there's nothing I could do. It's bad when you wreck, but it's even worse when one of your teammates get it with you. That's the way our year has gone."

MIKE WALLACE --7-- NationsRent Taurus (Finished 37th)
"The 77 and 66 were running into each other off the corner a couple of times, so I just kind of backed up and was gonna ride behind them until they decided who was gonna go. Todd got real loose off of two and, unfortunately, I was underneath him and we hit the wall. It's just an unfortunate situation."

TODD BODINE --66-- Route 66/Kmart Taurus (Finished 32nd)
"We got wrecked racing for last. That's Bristol. We had a really good car in the beginning, but we made some mistakes and got the car way off. We were never able to catch up and got in trouble. That's the way it happens at Bristol. You can't make any mistakes in this game and every week we make one and that's what puts us out of contention, but we're gonna get it. This Kmart 66 team is a good team. We're gonna go through our bumps and bruises, but we're gonna get better."

RUSTY WALLACE --2-- Miller Lite Taurus (Finished 7th)
"Man, we got caught up in that crap there early in the race and cut the tire down and we ended up playing catch-up all day it seemed like. Track position was everything after that and that was more important than fresh tires. If we'd been able to get to the front, we could have set sail. Our pit spot really hampered us several times and that hurt us a bunch. The bad thing is that we had a lot better car here today than what the finish showed. Track position said it all -- hat's off to the Wood Brothers."

ELLIOTT SADLER --21-- Motorcraft Taurus (Finished 1st)
VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU?
"It means more than anything in the world. It's hard to win these Winston Cup races or to even finish in the top 10. Pat Tryson made a good call to stay out. We had older tires than anybody else. We had a pretty good car. I just want to thank everybody at Motorcraft Quality Parts, Ford, the Air Force for really believing in us -- seeing something in us that we didn't see. Man, we're so happy about this I don't know what to do."

YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD A FLAT TIRE AT THE END?
"I fought with Harvick and I thought I messed up my right-front and I just probably knocked the toe out a little bit, but it was good enough to win. I tell you, we're in victory lane at Bristol, we get to go to The Winston, we're gonna run The Winston in Charlotte and we're gonna win that one too."

JEREMY MAYFIELD --12-- Mobil 1 Taurus (Finished 3rd)
"That's what we needed. We had a good car and we were real good all day. We came in and took two on, but pitting on the backstretch slowed us down a little bit. We're happy with third though. Pitting on the backstretch, we got beat out every time. The guys did a great job on our stops, but pitting on the backstretch hurt us. We finished fourth here last year and third this year, so that's pretty good. It's a tough place. We started 30th and pitting on the backstretch put us against it."

WHOSE CALL WAS IT TO PUT ON TWO TIRES?
"They were talking about four, but I thought, 'Man, we'd better do two.' I didn't want to take any chances, so I guess I made the call. The key was we had to get track position."

WHAT ABOUT SADLER GETTING HIS FIRST WIN?
"That's good. They deserve it. The Wood Brothers are a good team. I wish we could have gotten up there a little sooner than that, but he did a good job."

HOW MUCH DID PITTING ON THE BACKSTRETCH HURT?
"I think it put us down all day, but, obviously, the backstretch wasn't too bad because the winner came from there. It hurt us a lot. We had great stops all day and we'd end up losing six or eight spots everytime we stopped, so the last time we put on two tires and gained track position and went from there. This is almost like a win to us. We had a third last week and a third this week, so this is a good turnaround for us."

TWO TIRES ON THE LAST STOP?
"We talked about doing four because we knew all the leaders were gonna do that, so when we came in I said, 'Let's just do two. We're here to win and do the best we can and gain some track position.' So we changed our minds right there at the last minute and put on two. I'm sure that hurt us a little bit speedwise, but it gained us a lot of spots on the race track. I'm pretty happy with that."

YOU AND HARVICK RAN SIDE-BY-SIDE A LOT TODAY.
"Yeah, we had a good race together today. He ended up leading some and stayed out and got track position. I'm not sure what happened to him, but he had a great car. I felt like we were a little better. We were back and forth a lot. It was just good racing."

DALE JARRETT --88-- UPS Taurus (Finished 16th)
"We didn't have a bad car. We just needed long runs and track position is everything. Right before we got ready on one of the restarts (with 74 laps to go) I started weaving back and forth and I ran over something I guess and cut a tire down. We were alright until then and I think we could have had at least a top-10 finish. Just before they got ready to throw the green I started to clean my tires up and I had a flat left-rear tire. It's just unfortunate. Track position is everything. It's so hard to pass until you get strung out and I just got back there and couldn't make anymore."

YOU'RE GOOD FRIENDS WITH THE WOOD BROTHERS. YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THEIR WIN.
"Yeah, that's pretty cool. I'm gonna go over there and congratulate them, but that's pretty cool that they could win. I'm glad for Elliott and the Wood Brothers because it's been a long time."

RICKY RUDD --28-- Texaco Havoline Taurus (Finished 10th)
"It just depended on where we were on the race track. Even in the early stages I just kind of closed up there and ran along in fourth. I let those guys kind of bust the traffic up and we were just kind of sitting there going our way. Our biggest problem is that the pit stalls aren't big enough. We would come into the pits and I'd have to put it in forwards and backwards two or three times. When we'd do that, we'd go in fourth and come out 12th. That just killed us today."

DID THE PIT STRATEGY HURT YOUR CAUSE?
"I really think that's what changed things more than anything was the way the pit stops fell. Some guys were out of sync and I would say maybe where we were maybe didn't help things. I can't blame it on being out of sync, I'd blame it on the pit stalls and having to back up."

MARK MARTIN --6-- Pfizer Taurus (Finished 34th)
"I just wasn't in the right spot. If we would have been a little bit later to the scene of the accident we would have been OK, but I was in a spot where I really didn't have much option. It's too bad. I think we had a reasonable car. The track came to us later on after that."

WHAT ABOUT ELLIOTT'S FIRST WIN?
"I think that's great. That's the greatest thing I've seen in a long time. I'm really happy for him."

MATT KENSETH --17-- DEWALT Power Tools Taurus (Finished 14th)
"For the backstretch it was good. If we would have been on the frontstretch I thought we had a top-10 car. At the beginning of the race I thought we had a top-five car for sure. The car was really, really good and then when the track started changing we couldn't keep up with it because of our setup. We just couldn't get it back. No matter what we did, we never got it back to how it was when we started the race."

WHAT ABOUT YOUR PIT STRATEGY LATE?
"If we would have been handling a little better we could have stayed out like Elliott did. They had a good car, but I don't think they were any better than anybody else. They were just in the right place at the right time. It's a big advantage to be up front."

-Ford Racing